# CVE-2018-15781: DSA-2019-022: Dell Wyse Password Encoder Hard-coded Cryptographic Key Vulnerability

> An attacker can reverse engineer the system to discover a hard-coded private key and decrypt locally stored sensitive data.

- **Severity:** High 7.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Feb 2019
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r477-c5ch-w7wr

## What is CVE-2018-15781?

CVE-2018-15781 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Wyse Password Encoder, published on 13 Feb 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Dell Wyse Password Encoder in ThinLinux2 versions prior to 2.1.0.01 contain a Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability. An unauthenticated remote attacker could reverse engineer the cryptographic system used in the Dell Wyse Password Encoder to discover the hard coded private key and decrypt locally stored cipher text.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15781?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dell Wyse Thinlinux.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-15781?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-15781 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-15781 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15781 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-15781 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-15781 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Wyse Password Encoder, published on 13 Feb 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15781 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Wyse Password Encoder. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15781/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15781/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15781
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-15781
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-15781

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15781/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.